Iraq Sees Spike in Water-Borne Illnesses
Iraqi health officials say that a health crisis stemming from water pollution and a shortage of clean drinking water has worsened in recent days, as hospitals in the southern port city of Basra treat more than 1,000 cases of intestinal infections on a daily basis. The problem was exacerbated several months ago when Turkey cut back on water distributed to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
伊拉克卫生官员说，最近几天，由于水污染和缺乏清洁饮用水造成的健康危机进一步恶化，因为南部港口城市巴士拉的医院每天都要处理超过1000例肠道感染病例。几个月前，当土耳其削减向底格里斯河和拉底河流域的水供应时，这个问题进一步恶化。
A crowd of young men took to the streets on in the southern port city of Basra Tuesday, demanding the central government and Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi increase the quantity of clean drinking water allotted to their province. Abadi vowed to increase spending on infrastructure for the province during a visit to Basra in July.
周二，一群年轻人走上街头，要求中央政府和总理海达尔阿巴迪增加分配给他们省的清洁饮用水的数量。阿巴迪在7月访问巴士拉期间，誓言要增加该省基础设施的支出。
A young man, whose friend was killed during a rally several weeks ago, broke down and sobbed over the protesters' inability to force Iraqi leaders to improve the condition of public services in Basra, especially the region's worn-out water infrastructure and insufficient quantities of drinking water allotted by the central government.
一个年轻人的朋友在几周前的集会中被杀害，他崩溃的哭泣，因为抗议者们无力迫使伊拉克领导人改善巴士拉的公共服务设施条件，尤其是该地区的用水基础设施破损，且中央政府分配的饮用水量不足
Some health officials in Basra warn that a cholera outbreak is possible due to water pollution and water-borne parasites that have made thousands of people sick in recent days. The director general of the Basra Health department, Riad Abdul Amir, told Al Hurra TV the situation continues to worsen.
一些Basra的卫生官员警告称，可能是由于水污染和水通道寄生虫引起的一次霍乱爆发，已造成成千人在近几天感病。Basra健康部门的主任 RAA 告诉AIHTV，情况将继续恶化。
He says more than 17,500 cases of intestinal ailments, resulting from contaminated drinking water, have been treated by Basra hospitals during the past two weeks, alone.
Abdul Amir says the problem stems from insufficient fresh water supplies coming into the city via canals and water pipes from the north.
"Salty water [which has infiltrated the water network]," he asserts, "is known to reduce the efficacy of chlorine used to treat and kill bacteria in drinking water," he said.
Safaa Kazem, a docotor who has been treating dozens of cases of intestinal problems and diarrhea in Basra's Sadr Teaching Hospital each day, says water from the city's supply is not safe to drink.
She says the degree of water sterilization is minimal and that Basra's water is very salty and has an extremely high level of microbes in it, along with a high degree of chemical pollution.
Basra Governor Assad al Edani told Al Hurra TV that his province has been suffering from numerous infrastructure problems for a long time.
He says the water network in Basra hasn't been updated in at least 30 years and the old pipes often break, mixing drinking water with sewage.
Edani says "not enough fresh water is arriving via the region's only canal from Thi Qar province to the north." He thinks a "strong current of fresh water will flush out salty water seeping into the water network from the sea."
Edani adds that the population of Basra has "more than doubled since the water network was last updated in the early 1990s."
Iraq's individual provinces have been fighting for water, amid a general shortage, since Turkey in early June severely curtailed the number of cubic meters of water it funnels into both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.